I did a fun photoshoot in Old Town Sacramento a few weeks ago in a place called “Laughs Unlimited”.  It’s a comedy club and there were some models there to audition for a new fashion designer who will be having a fashion show in Sacramento next month.  It was a lot of fun and I was able to work with some of the models I had worked with before, plus some brand new ones.

Here’s what I mean about it being fun.  The club let the models climb up on the bar for a few cool shots.  In fact, we pretty much had free reign of the place until it got close to time for them to open the club.  Then we moved over to the delta and got some more shots there.

These are a few of my favorite shots from the shoot.

And below, is one of my favorite models (I’ve worked with her a couple of times.)  She s a real pro and I wish her the best of luck in her modeling career.

]]> http://sierrasprings.commanderdata.com/2009/08/14/542/feed/ 0 http://sierrasprings.commanderdata.com/2009/03/24/my-last-studio-lights-assignment/ http://sierrasprings.commanderdata.com/2009/03/24/my-last-studio-lights-assignment/#comments Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:27:12 +0000 Karen Schmautz http://sierrasprings.commanderdata.com/?p=468

I’m just finishing up my last “studio lights” portrait assignment for the Folsom Lake College Portrait and Wedding Photography class I’m doing.  So, as usual, I called in the fam.  Pictured here are my headless oldest son, my son’s headless girlfriend and her little boy (not headless).  He’s been in many of my pictures before and I got a fairly decent picture of him without his mugging for the camera.  Now this is not the photo I chose for my formal portrait assignment, but it is one of my favorite photos of the session.  I used my new studio strobe and pocket wizards.  I feel so professional…

This is the photo I chose for the assignment.  There are several things about it that I don’t like…mostly technical (like the chair back, the shadow on my son’s chest, her “bolt upright” pose), but it’s okay for a formal pose.

I also had this one:

which is OKAY, but my oldest son has a really fake look on his face and Dino’s smile is beginning to wane.  (He was getting pretty tired of this picture taking business by then.)  Plus, the boys’ clothes are a little disheveled.  And, there’s a little space between her hair and her face that’s annoying.  Picky?  Yes, but we are talking about trying to make a photo that you would be proud to have hanging over your fireplace.  After a while these things would start to bug you…so, it appears I need a little more practice with formal photos.

Now you can see why I like the first shot.  Here’s another one I really liked:

Again, not a formal pose, but this type of shot is more my style.

And this one:

And this is much better of my son with Dino:

Both of them have a fairly natural look on their faces.  I think I still need to work with my oldest in order for him to feel more comfortable with the camera in front of his face.

So, thanks to my family who helped me out yet again.

I was beginning to feel like I had hit a wall with my photography…especially with the last photo shoot I did up in Woodland with the pin ups.  I really felt the need to branch out of my natural light comfort zone and head into the “artificial” light, so to speak. Plus, I want to open a studio in my house and I would love to add studio style portraits to my repertoire.

So, I invested in some pocket wizards and a couple of Elinchrom strobes to try out.  I got my pocket wizards I tried it out with my Canon flash – off camera with John Evans who is the chef and owner of Zachary Jacques Restaurant in Placerville.  I had to take an environmental portrait for my Portrait and Wedding Photography class that used off camera lighting to light the subject but also showed ambient lighting behind the subject.  I had to do this really, really quick because his restaurant was about to open for the evening.  So, I positioned my husband to camera right with the flash and the pocket wizard.  I took a couple of test shots and then I took this one just as the first customer was walking in the door.  I got some ambient lighting, you can see that there is a restaurant in the background, but it could have been better.  At any rate, I think his photo turned out pretty well.

The next day I got my two new strobes and light boxes.  I can’t tell you how hard it was to figure out how to put the stupid light boxes together.  I finally got the larger one on the strobe and began to look for my first victim.  I tried a few practice shots with my husband but he was busy cooking, and I didn’t want to bother him.  Then my daughter showed up and she’s always a good sport.  So, I snapped this shot.  This will give you a good idea of the type of cool catchlights (the little lights in her eyes) that you can get with softboxes.    My softbox is actually rectangular, but because I have it set at an angle to her face, it gives the catchlight a funky shaped light.  Perfect.

Yesterday my oldest son and his girlfriend came up for dinner, so I dragged my softbox out and they wanted to see what was so cool about it.  Their eyes began to glaze over as I discussed the possibilities, so I snapped a picture instead.

Now, I love the light in their eyes on this photo.  I’m not overly crazy about the pose, but they are so cute…I couldn’t resist.  They are coming over on Thursday with her little boy to help me out with another school assignment and be the first ones to help me try out my new studio arrangement.  (I even have a cool new backdrop system to use.)

Here’s a photo I took of my youngest son with my older continuous studio lights, which use brellas to soften the light.  I really like this photo, so I guess I’m not ready to give up my old, non-strobe lights.  The color of the light is much different than the strobes and the catchlights are round due to the use of umbrellas.

Hint:  to make sure your photos of people have some “life” to it…make sure they have those little catchlights in both of their eyes.  That goes for pets, too.  Actually pets look kinda scary unless they have catchlights in their eyes.  You can get catchlights by making sure they are facing a window or lamp or something that puts off light besides the sun (it will cause them to squint) or direct flash (little annoying pin point light in their eyes.)

Thanks to all my kids.

Now…I’m on the hunt for new victims.